IN BRIEF : Slippage Continues in New Housing

WASHINGTON —  Completions of new homes and apartment buildings in the nation declined 5.6% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.42 million units, the Commerce Department said today.

Completions slipped 1.7% in October to a 1.51-million unit annual rate, the department said.

Housing construction has been on a downward trend over the past year. Compared with November, 1987, the number of houses completed in November was down 9.5% and economists expect further declines in the year ahead.

The November decline was fairly evenly split between houses and apartment buildings, with single-family house completions down 5.4% to a 1.02 million-unit annual rate and multiple-dwelling building completions down 6.4% to a 398,000-unit rate.